Always
by wryencounter
Summary: Superlagoon fic inspired by the song Cups from Pitch Perfect. I wrote this one because I wanted to and it was extremely cathartic and I'm very proud of it.


Conner lifted the last box of assorted things from his dorm room with a huff into the back of his old, clunker of a truck that Clark had gotten him for his sixteenth birthday. He hadn't taken too much care when he had packed up his things. Sophomore year of college had been rough, especially the second semester. He was just happy it was finally over.

Between him and La'gaan they had just barely been able to squeeze all of their stuff into the truck bed, but they had been determined. The plan was to stop at Conner's and drop all of his stuff off, and then head to La'gaan's for dinner with his parents. Clark was gone on business for the next two days, so he didn't have to worry about being home with his own dad for the first few days of being back. Kai and Cor'rel had insisted that he come over, and at La'gaan's nagging he couldn't really say no.

He climbed into the driver side of his truck, La'gaan already waiting on the passenger side. It only took a little bit of coaxing to get the truck started before they were on the way (silently hoping that they'd make the entire hour long trip without incident.)

La'gaan reached over and slipped his hand into Conner's, his lips pulling into a wide grin naturally.

They had met in their freshman year of high school, but hadn't started dating until their senior year. Some people thought they had both decided to go to the same college just because they were dating, but the truth was they had both gotten in on athletic scholarships. La'gaan was a natural born swimmer, and Clark had put Conner in football when he was a kid and made him stick with it through high school where he luckily got scouted.

A majority of their car ride was silent due to the open windows because of the busted AC, and when they reached Conner's home they quickly set about moving his boxes from the truck to his bedroom on the second floor. When Conner had brought up the last box he found La'gaan sprawled out on the couch in the living room.

"Ready to go?" Conner asked with an amused smile on his face.

"It's so hot out, why don't we stay here where it's nice and cool in this wonderful air conditioning for a little while?" La'gaan said.

Conner rolled his eyes and walked over to the couch, holding out his hand to pull his boyfriend up off of the couch. "Because your parents are expecting us. Besides, you've got AC at home too."

By the time Conner saw La'gaan's smirk it was too late to pull his hand away, and he found himself being pulled down onto the couch with La'gaan. Before he could say anything La'gaan was pressing their lips together. Conner decided to indulge him for a few minutes and kissed him back, but when La'gaan started trying to work his shirt up he pulled away.

"_Later_," he said, pressing kisses to La'gaan's light brown skin. "Your mom was pretty explicit on the phone when she called me yesterday to tell me that I had better have you home on time."

"Please, my mother wouldn't do anything to you. She _adores_ you." La'gaan said with a grin.

Conner hummed as he ran his fingers over La'gaan's jaw. He loved the difference in contrast between their skin, and it would only be more striking later in the summer when La'gaan's skin darkened nicely from all the time he'll spend at the beach. Conner didn't tan. He was forced to wear sunscreen all summer or suffer sunburn.

"I know, but I'm sure you want home cooked food just as bad as I do."

"Fair enough, let's go." La'gaan said before pecking Conner on the lips one last time.

When they arrived at La'gaan's house it was no surprise that Kai and Cor'rel had come out to greet them. His truck wasn't exactly quiet.

Conner was greeted like he was their son just as much as La'gaan was. He received a bone-crushing hug from Kai, and Cor'rel straightened his hair and kissed him on the cheek.

Kai ushered them into the house and refused to let them help him get La'gaan's things out of the truck, insisting that they deserved a break. They followed Cor'rel into the kitchen, and La'gaan was already telling her about some crazy story that had happened since the last time they had been home.

When Conner looked at La'gaan and Cor'rel standing next to each other you wouldn't be able to tell they were related by any feature except their eyes, which were a nice, light brown. Cor'rel had reddish hair (Conner wasn't entirely sure if it was natural or not, but he never bothered to ask) and her skin was more tan than it was brown. La'gaan was almost a copy of his father. They both had black hair and their skin was a light brown.

They spent the next couple of hours talking, telling stories, complaining about professors, and laughing while Cor'rel made dinner.

Conner liked this, spending time with La'gaan and his family, a lot more than he would have liked what he and Clark would have done had he been home. Clark would have taken him out for dinner and grilled him about football. Classes, teachers, friends, La'gaan, none of that mattered to Clark. All that mattered to him was that Conner was fit, healthy, and on top of his game.

That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but Conner wished that he would be more of a father sometimes rather than a manager. And as long as Conner stayed out of trouble he had access to the bank account that Clark added to every week so Conner wouldn't have to worry about a job.

Some of his friends envied him because of that, and he got tired of explaining why they shouldn't, so he just brushed it off most of the time.

But what really irked Conner about Clark was that he just brushed off his relationship of three years with La'gaan. He had been ecstatic when he had made such a great friend who was also athletic, but once they started dating he avoided the topic as much as possible. When La'gaan came over Clark would retreat to his den and watch TV alone, and when he got started on one of his many longwinded speeches he would always say, "And someday you'll marry a nice girl." He disregarded Conner's feelings for La'gaan at every possible chance, and he hated it.

He liked the way things were when he was with La'gaan and his parents, or just La'gaan for that matter. He was _Conner_. He wasn't his father's little machine.

When they were finished with dinner Conner helped clear the table and then said that he should be heading home, receiving a frown from La'gaan.

"Are you sure? You can stay as late as you like, you know that." Kai said.

"Yeah, I've still got a lot of unpacking to do." Conner replied.

"Come back whenever you like," Cor'rel said giving him a smile that he returned.

La'gaan walked with him out to his truck.

"What happened to _later_, huh?" La'gaan said as he snaked his arms around Conner's neck when they stopped at the bottom of the driveway.

"Or tomorrow." Conner said, leaning in to kiss La'gaan's frown away. "Spend the night with your parents. Clark won't be home until the day after tomorrow, so we can spend all day tomorrow alone."

La'gaan huffed discontentedly against Conner's lips, his fingers working their way into Conner's hair. "Fine."

La'gaan kissed him again, biting at his lip in a way that almost made him regret his decision to go home. Almost.

Conner broke the kiss and said, "I'll see you tomorrow."

He pulled away, missing La'gaan's fingers in his hair already and got into his truck.

"Love you," Conner said through the open window.

"Love you, too." La'gaan said, a small smile working its way onto his lips.

His truck started with relative ease like it always did when he was secretly hoping that it wouldn't start at all so then he'd have an excuse to stay.

When he got home the house was dark.

He locked the door behind him, grabbed one of Clark's beers from the fridge, and then headed for his room.

Conner dropped his keys on his bedside table along with his cell phone and wallet. He popped the cap off of his beer and took a drink as he considered the stack of boxes at the foot of his bed.

He didn't really care for beer, and he wasn't even much of a drinker. He just occasionally drank one of Clark's beers as a general "fuck you, dad" kind of thing. He took one more drink before he set the bottle down and opened the first box.

When Conner finally emptied the last box and looked up at his alarm clock it was almost midnight. He broke the box down and added it to the pile in front of his door before he flopped down onto his bed. Snatching a glance at his phone there was only one text message from La'gaan letting him know that he didn't have to pick the other up, and that he'd be there sometime around lunch.

He set his phone down on the bed next to him. He knew he should get up and change his clothes and move the pile of boxes, but his eyes fell closed before he found the energy to get up.

The next time Conner opened his eyes it was already eleven in the morning. He crawled out of bed, moved the pile of boxes from last night, and then headed for the bathroom to take a quick shower before La'gaan showed up.

When he finally made his way downstairs he unlocked the front door, knowing full well that La'gaan would let himself in. When his boyfriend did walk in he found Conner in the kitchen eating.

"Have fun unpacking last night?" La'gaan asked with a smirk as he sat in the chair next to Conner.

"Tons," Conner said through a mouthful of sandwich and with a roll of his eyes.

After Conner finished eating he and La'gaan wound up cuddling on the couch in front of the TV. He was impressed that La'gaan had made it about fifteen minutes before he was nipping at Conner's neck. Conner turned his head slightly so their lips could meet.

La'gaan fingered the hem of Conner's shirt, trying to kiss him and talk at the same time. "Are you going to let me take your shirt off this time?"

"Act right and I might even let you take my pants off, too." Conner answered, earning himself a nasty nip at his lower lip for his smartass tone.

He shifted slightly so he could raise his arms to let La'gaan life his shirt up, but once the shirt was up to his elbows he was shoving it back down and La'gaan was moving to sit up.

"Conner?" Clark's voice called from the direction of the kitchen where he had come in the back door.

He cleared his throat before answering. "In the living room."

They had been so caught up in themselves they hadn't even heard him pull up.

"Oh, hello, La'gaan." Clark said as he poked his head around the corner. "We're going out to dinner with my co-worker, John, and his daughter, Megan around six. Shirt and slacks."

"Okay. You're home early." Conner commented.

"Story was a bust, so I came home early."

That was the problem with journalism. Never guaranteed anything solid, especially in Clark's case it seemed. Sometimes Conner really wished his dad had a Monday to Friday, nine to five job. It would make things like this easier.

"We're gonna head out. I'll be back in time for dinner." Conner said as Clark disappeared into the kitchen. His answer was only a half heard grunt of acknowledgement, but he wasn't paying attention because he was heading out the front door with La'gaan. (Thankfully he had brought his keys and things down from his bedroom earlier.)

"Why does it seem like this always happens to us?" La'gaan asked as they climbed into Conner's truck.

"Because it does."

This was not the first time that Clark had nearly walked in on them doing the deed. Well, almost, anyway. And it was hard to do anything at La'gaan's house because Cor'rel didn't work.

Conner drove, not really having a destination in mind, but somehow ended up at the beach anyway. It was still only the beginning of June, so not everyone was out of school yet, so it was nearly deserted. There wasn't even a life guard on duty yet.

They got out of the truck and Conner grabbed one of the blankets he kept in the back for these kinds of occasions. When they met at the front of the vehicle their hands found each other naturally, and they easily fell into step together.

When they found a spot in the sand they laid the blanket down and sat together. This was nothing new; they'd done this often last summer and all throughout their senior year of high school. They sat in comfortable silence as the hours ticked away before Conner had to go home and get ready for dinner.

This dinner was going to be a disaster, Conner could feel it.

Clark had made him change his shirt twice before they finally left. During the entire car ride to the restaurant Clark wouldn't stop talking about John and his daughter. He could feel all of the unsaid expectations he was supposed to live up to tonight.

When they finally arrived John and Megan were already seated. Clark introduced him the others, but made sure to make a show of introducing him to Megan. It was clear he expected something to come from this one meeting. Conner hoped Clark hadn't gotten her hopes up too high.

Megan was a slight, pretty, redhead with freckles on her cheeks. She smiled at Conner and gave him a small hello. He returned her greeting with a smile and a slight nod. Clark looked a little disappointed in Conner's response, but then he seemed to shake it off. He probably wrote it off as Conner being shy.

Conner wasn't shy, he just wasn't interested.

They all took their seats and the waiter came by to take their drink order. Clark and John chatted about work things for a few minutes, but after the waiter had returned with their drinks and taken their food order Clark found it necessary to make Conner speak.

"Don't be so quiet Conner; tell her something interesting about yourself."

Conner was pretty sure Clark had already told her everything. Or almost everything at least. He knew Clark was expecting him to say something about football, or college, but that was boring. That was all anyone ever wanted to talk about.

"I have a boyfriend." he said simply.

It was silent for a second and when Conner's eyes met Clark's he knew he was in trouble.

"No, you don't." Clark said.

He started to say something about Conner's football career, but his son cut him off. "Yes, I do. I have for the past three years. Just because you elect to ignore that fact doesn't make it any less true."

"Well you don't anymore."

"That's not up to you."

Silence.

"You've chosen everything for me my whole life. Football, college. All of it. You can't choose this for me too."

"Now, you listen…" he started again, but Conner cut in again.

"I'm done listening, dad. I'm going to date La'gaan for forever, for as far as I'm concerned. Nothing's going to change that."

"You're going to change it, or you're no son of mine."

It took a second for the words to sink in, but when they did Conner stood up without saying a word and walked out of the restaurant. He didn't look back, and Clark didn't call after him. Conner should have expected something like this would happen someday. It had been obvious since he had started dating La'gaan that Clark wasn't happy about it.

Conner had probably just been hoping that Clark would let it go. He had done everything his father had ever asked of him. All he wanted was La'gaan, and if his father couldn't give him that then Clark was as dead to him as his mother was.

He wasn't sure how long he walked for, but he found himself at La'gaan's house. It was still relatively early; the sun hadn't even set yet.

Kai answered the door.

"Hey, Conner. Lookin' good. I didn't know you and La'gaan had plans tonight."

"Oh, thanks. We don't. Dinner gone wrong with dad." he answered with a shrug as he walked in the door as Kai held it open for him.

"I'm sure you'll get it worked out. Stay as long as you like." Kai slapped him on the shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze before adding, "La'gaan's in his room."

"Thanks," was all Conner said.

He walked through the house towards La'gaan's room, greeting Cor'rel when he saw her in the hallway. Thankfully she didn't ask any questions. When he got to La'gaan's room the door was open but he shut it behind him.

"Conner? What are you doing here?" La'gaan asked with a smile that soon fell when he saw the look on Conner's face.

He wasn't sure how he looked, but it must have been evident that dinner had gone wrong.

Conner fell next to La'gaan on his bed, staring at the ceiling for a few minutes in silence. La'gaan carded his fingers through Conner's hair as he waited for him to say something. He knew that if he didn't say something soon La'gaan would start asking questions because he was so impatient.

"Run away with me." Conner said, turning his head to the side to look at La'gaan.

His boyfriend rolled his eyes and said, "It couldn't have been that bad."

But it was.

Clark had given him an ultimatum. Either do as he was told, or stay with La'gaan and be disowned. And he didn't doubt for a second that Clark meant every word of it.

"He tried to set me up with his coworker's daughter, and when I told them I had a boyfriend he tried to deny it. And then he threatened to disown me if I didn't break up with you. Which I'm obviously not going to do." Conner said in one breath.

"It was that bad." La'gaan said before he curled himself around Conner, fingers playing with one of the buttons on his shirt and his head resting on Conner's shoulder.

It was quiet for a few minutes before La'gaan asked, "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know." _Run away_. "See what happens tomorrow I guess. He's probably just upset that I said all of that stuff in front of his coworker."

La'gaan didn't say anything. They laid in silence until La'gaan's room went dark with the setting sun, Conner running his fingers through La'gaan's hair silently while he thought about his options.

There was no way he was going to break up with La'gaan to fulfill Clark's wishes. There was also no way he could ask La'gaan's parents to let him move in. Besides, he didn't want to stay that close to Clark anyway.

Running away was starting to look like a really good idea.

He shouldn't ask La'gaan to leave with him. He shouldn't put that kind of pressure on him, but he _had_ to ask. He had to see if La'gaan would go with him, even though he shouldn't make him choose between him and his parents and school. It wasn't fair.

But on the other hand if he didn't ask he could just disappear. No one would know where he went, where he was going, what his plans were. He could start over. He could make his own choices.

But he loved La'gaan too much to leave him with all those unanswered questions.

He decided to sleep on it, even though he knew his mind was pretty much already made up.

Conner nudged La'gaan slightly to make sure he was still awake, moving them to a sitting position when he looked up. He pulled La'gaan's shirt over his head before kissing him.

La'gaan pulled away slightly, "_Now_? What about my parents?"

"It's not like they don't already know. You don't date someone for three years, two of them in _college_, and not have sex. If you're that worried about it you'll just have to make sure you're quiet." he replied, a slight smirk on his face at the end.

"We could try that," La'gaan said, the second half of his sentence lost on Conner's tongue as their mouths met again.

Conner figured if he was going to have one more night with La'gaan he'd at least show him how much he loved him.

Conner woke up before La'gaan did, but that wasn't really a surprise. He got out of La'gaan's bed and dressed himself as quietly as he could.

He drank in the sight of La'gaan asleep and sprawled out on his bed, sheet covering him from the waist down. Who knew if this would be the last time he saw something like this or not?

Shutting the door behind him slowly and silently, he headed for the front door. He gave Cor'rel a small wave as he passed the kitchen, declining her offer of breakfast with a shake of his head and a small smile.

When he got outside he walked towards home, if he could still call it that. It was only a few miles, not as far as the walk from the restaurant was last night. He made sure to stop by the bank and drain his account in case Clark decided to put a freeze on it later. There was plenty of cash for him to get himself, and potentially La'gaan, away from here. Maybe in some little town on the other side of the country, in a tiny little studio apartment. So long as it was _away_, Conner would be happy.

When he got home Clark was awake, sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee and reading the morning paper.

There was a tense silence before Clark broke it. "Well?"

"I didn't break up with him, if that's what you're asking." Conner knew it was.

"Then I expect you to be gone by the time I get home from work."

Conner didn't respond. He simply walked up to his room and packed the majority of his clothes. It was all he needed. Everything else would just be dead weight to him. Memories he no longer wanted. (Neither he nor La'gaan were the type of people to give gifts, so they never really exchanged anything.)

When he went back downstairs Clark was gone, and he wasn't surprised. He went outside, threw his bag in the bed of his truck, and drove back to La'gaan's house.

Conner sat there for a while, but it must have been longer than he thought it was because La'gaan came outside. He finally got out of his truck, and he met La'gaan halfway down the drive way.

"What happened?" La'gaan asked.

"He kicked me out." Conner said flatly, lifting one of his shoulders in a half shrug.

"What are you going to do now? You know you can stay here if you need to." La'gaan said after a beat of silence. La'gaan was probably just as shocked as Conner was.

"Leave, run away, disappear." he answered. "Come with me."

La'gaan just looked at him, his face torn.

"I know I shouldn't make you choose, but I figured I'd ask on the off chance you said yes." Conner said, taking La'gaan's hand. "I can't stay here, La'gaan. I have to leave; I have to make my own choices from now on."

"I know, I just… I don't want you to go." La'gaan said, squeezing his hand.

"I'll keep in touch; let you know I'm doing okay. You can come and visit when I find some place, or join me, if you ever change your mind." he said. He may be leaving, but there was no way he was letting go of La'gaan.

"Okay," was all La'gaan managed before they were hugging, and kissing, and saying _I love you_ after _I love you_.

When they finally broke apart Conner didn't say anything, and neither did La'gaan. He walked back to his truck and got in it. He watched La'gaan's figure shrink in his rearview mirror as he drove away, and watched as his small shape was joined by two others.

Conner wasn't sure where he was going, and he wasn't sure how far his truck would get him before he'd have to sell it to a junkyard and hop on a train, or a plane, or something.

But he did know one thing for sure, at least.

He loved La'gaan, and La'gaan loved him, and this goodbye was temporary.

Because no matter where he went, or who he met, or what he did, Conner would always choose La'gaan. And he knew La'gaan would always choose him. Always.


End file.
